Dipterocarpus Wood Resin Tenure, Management and Trade: Practices of the Brao in Northeast Cambodia

Much of the World?s tropical and sub-tropical forest ecosystems are being rapidly degraded. Thus, there is interest in finding ways to protect biodiversity while assisting communities to benefit from its use. One way is through marketing Non-timber Forest Products (NTFPs). However, NTFP development is often unsustainable. Wood resin derived from Dipterocarpus alatus, D. turbinatus, D. intricatus, D. tuberculatus and D. costatus is a naturally occurring NTFP tapped by ethnic Brao people living near Virachey National Park in Taveng Leu Commune, Ratanakiri Province, northeastern Cambodia. This book describes the uses of wood resin, as well as harvesting practices, trading patterns and tenure and management arrangements associated with it. This research indicates that resin tapping is generally not destructive to the resource, despite what some have reported. In Taveng Leu resin trees are managed using a system that combines both private and common property tenure arrangements. This book will be of interest to a wide range of readers; from foresters to development practitioners; and from protected area managers to those interested in the indigenous peoples of this little-known region.